While not marketed as all-you-can-eat, sugar shack menus usually are – in fact, they’re almost always more-than-you-can-eat. The traditional menu includes ham, pancakes, pea soup, omelettes, sausages, potatoes, baked beans, tortière (meat pie), sugar pie, and maple syrup over everything, but restaurants that have been getting into the sugary seasonal game have concocted all kinds of variations of the traditional.

A good bet is La Cabane, located right on the river in the Old Port of Montreal for the fourth year in a row, this year a temporary locale for Portuguese chef Helena Loureiro, who’s cooked up a menu that mixes modern with traditional, from cod fritters to potage.
At this time of year, many Montreal restaurants add some sugaring-off season dishes to their menu. Throughout April, Hotel Nelligan, located in a beautiful building that features a terrasse overlooking Old Montreal, creates a unique urban sugar shack environment and delicious dishes. And the neighbourhood of Verdun, along with some of its top restaurants, gets into the maple-syrup spirit March 23-24 with their L’Érablière Wellington, which turns Place Wellington into a maple grove and features sugar shack food that brings together the culinary talents of great chefs in the area.

The whole family can learn about where maple syrup comes from while also getting to try out the candied delicacy that is boiled maple syrup on snow at the Montreal Botanical Gardens until April 26. And for more outdoor activities, go to park Cap St-Jacques in the west end of the island of Montreal, where between visiting the organic farm (farm animals included!) and walking or cross-country skiing through the forest, take a tractor-carriage ride down to the humble, cosy Cap St-Jacques sugar shack to fill up on pea soup, ham, crepes and maple syrup taffy on snow (on weekends only).

Hundreds of sugar shacks can be found within 30 minutes of the city, on the way to the Laurentian mountains or the Eastern Townships and Montérégie: to name just a few, Chalet des Érables features a train, a petting zoo and more activities; Cabane à sucre Bouvrette in St-Jerome also has a train and traditional dancing; and Érablière Charbonneau in Mont St-Bruno and Érablière au Sous-Bois in Mont St. Grégoire both have live music, farm animals, walks through the woods and more, or go a little further out to Sucrerie de la Montagne for their Sugaring Off Feast. Sugar shacks are plentiful all across Quebec – consult Cabane à  Sucre du Québec and La Route des Sucres for extensive lists in each of the province’s regions.

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Jean-Talon: Sugar Central

A walk through Montreal’s largest farmer’s market is a great way to find a huge selection of maple products from cheese to meat, literally, including the maple-pecan sausage from William J Walter, a sausagemaker in the market, and the Cru des Érables, a Quebec-made cow’s milk cheese. The maple-tappers from operations around Montreal come into the markets at this time of year to sell their wares- like the maple syrup in the traditional cans (a great take-home present), which come with recipes for maple baking on top. You can also buy various maple butters and sugars, for baking or simply (in the case of maple butter) to spread on toast.

Canadian Tire

Jean-Talon is also a great place to try Tire (pronounced tear, meaning “pull”), otherwise known as a “sugar pop”, without leaving the city limits. The sweet syrup of the maple sap, poured on crushed ice or snow and twisted up with a tongue depressor, makes for a sweet mouthful of sticky goodness: it’s an oldie, but good. Another place to pick up tire is in front of the Mont-Royal metro stop; this is a popular gathering spot late at night for partiers who want to get their sugar on.

Sugar Pie, Sugarpie!

Bakeries such as local chain Premiere Moisson also draw inspiration from the plentitude of maple at this time of year to bake up ready-made treats: maple cake, maple squares, maple croissants. This amazing tarte au sucre (maple-sugar tart) from Pains et Saveurs is the most amazing maple dessert I’ve ever tasted, probably because it contains nothing but eggs, butter cream and maple sugar, and it’s not too sweet and a little salty.

Frozen maple treats: Beyond syrup on snowThe now-classic maple crème-brulee ice cream at Havre-aux-Glaces is a seasonal favourite. The secret lies, again, in its not-too-sweet taste— plus this ice-cream has cracked the secret to perfectly-balanced burnt maple caramel.

For those who like hard stuff with their hard candy, maple or otherwise, may we suggest Sortilege. Described on the SAQ website as “miscellaneous liquor”, this maple-infused whisket is anything but.

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Guest Blogger: Melora Koepke

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